PP 25 Time DUE!!

Pay Period 25 Time is Due... please fill in your remarks in the comment section. Hope you all are having a happy holiday season- stay safe!

Smokejumper Crew Meeting Tuesday 12/15/15

There will be a Smokejumper Crew meeting at 0900 Tomorrow 12/15/15. The meeting will take place at the base in the Bob Marshall room, there will be an AFD potluck afterwards. Thanks and hope to see you all there!

TSP PILOT UPDATED

TSP Pilot updated both fund allocations.  Take a look and change your allocations if you follow the pilot.  not a huge change to the update but enough.  for more info contact ops

Shane Ewing Scholarship Applications Due on Dec 31st

The Missoula Smokejumper Welfare Fund is awarding a $1,000 scholarship to a deserving individual.  The deadline for applications is on December 31^st 2015, the scholarship will be awarded before January 15th 2016.

Requirements to Apply for the Scholarship

-Must be a current or former smokejumper or have a direct family relation to a current or former smokejumper (spouse or children).

-Must be used for educational purposes.  Proof of education is required.  (College or University)

How to Apply

-Write a one page essay covering the two topics below.
   
        1.  How has the smokejumping program impacted your life.

        2.  What type of education are you pursuing and how are you going to put that education to use.



Please Email your essays to apferruzzi1@yahoo.com or give to MSO Welfare Fund.

2015 Fall Newsletter / Questionairre

Read the fall newsletter and return the questionnaire to Ops by November 10.

It has been sent to the email address on file for each jumper. You can also download it by clicking the link below:

DOWNLOAD LINK 

Synopsis of Ram-air Operations Plan Meeting

Click on the airplane to download the Synopsis of the Ram-air Operations Plan Meeting:

JOBS! JOBS! JOBS!

CHECK FOR FIRE HIRE OUTREACHES 

There are many great opportunities out there don't wait until the last moment to check. 

IMPORTANT

COMPLETE LIST UPCOMING REGION 1 VACANCIES
OUTREACH RESPONSE FORM

The Fire Hire Process and Timeline

October 15, 2015─Outreach begins.  Information is available on the Northern Region’s website listing all vacant permanent fire vacancies and locations from the GS-0462-04 through 09 levels.

November 2, 2015-Vacancies Announcements.  Announcement numbers are available in USA jobs to accept applications.

December 1, 2015─Application deadline.  Apply through USAJobs.  Applicants are encouraged to apply for multiple locations (where they would accept a position if offered), even if vacancies for certain locations are not listed as vacant. Vacancies may occur during the hiring process and could be filled during Selection Week.

February 1 - February 5, 2016─Application evaluation. Subject matter experts will generate Reference Evaluations and gather this information for selecting officials.

February 8-12, 2016─Selections. Representatives from each forest will make recommendations for hiring.  Applicants selected will be notified by a Forest Service representative by phone.  Applicants not selected will be notified by e-mail.

March 20 to early April, 2016 ─First effective date (excluding drug testing, transfer of station, and less than Permanent Full Time appointments).

Fall Region 8 Module

There is a possible Region 8 Module leaving around Oct 23rd. for 3 weeks.  Please contact Dan/Tory in Ops if you are available and interested.

TERMINATION PARTY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Schedule Change

September 19 will be the last day of the summer days off schedule in Missoula.  Everyone will resume working Monday through Friday at the beginning of pay period 19, September 20.

Last Day of work

If you are planning on getting laid off this fall, put the date into the Last Day of Work sheet on the ops counter

Get Your Trainee Assignment Records to Training

Performance Evaluations:


If you get an entry in a Position Task Book, be sure to photocopy the evaluation record page (That's the one in the back with the incident information). Give the copy to training, so that they can get it in to IQCS.

This is particularly true for Task Books that will expire this year.

Honoring the fallen

Forest Service commemorates 70th anniversary of pioneer smokejumper’s ultimate sacrifice
On Aug. 6, the Forest Service will commemorate the 70th anniversary of PFC Malvin L. Brown’s passing. Brown, one of the "Triple Nickles" of the 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion, served as the one of the first African-American smokejumpers during WWII. He died on Aug. 6, 1945, during a fire jump near Roseburg, Oregon. His death is the first recorded smokejumper fatality. Chief Tidwell will officiate at a ceremony at Brown’s gravesite in Mt. Calvary Cemetery near Baltimore beginning at 10 a.m.

His story can be found here:

http://www.triplenickle.com/malvinbrown.htm

GS-8 Temporary Upgrade

We will be filling a 60-90 day temporary upgrade at the GS-8 level to fill in behind Court Wallace. Anyone who is interested is encouraged to apply. Please submit a 1 page resume (no longer) that includes your relevant experience including your fireline red card qualifications. Deadline for applying is Tuesday, August 4 2015 and these resumes may also be used later in the fall to fill other potential vacancies. Submit resumes electronically to decottell@fs.fed.us, tkendrick@fs.fed.us, or lfleming@fs.fed.us, or place a hard copy in the folder on Tory's desk. 

WEX Fleet Card Pin (What you use to buy gas in a Gov Rig) training.

Your 6 digit gas card pin might have been disabled. To fix that, do this:

ON A FOREST SERVICE NETWORK :

Direct your users to use the link provided below (using their 6-digit PIN) to complete the USDA Fleet Card User Certification Training.

All users, full time and temporary, need to complete this training in order for their cards to be reactivated.

https://www.wcts.usda.gov/FleetCard

75th Smokejumper Reunion - NPR Interview

To listen to this mornings interview with, Jim Phillips, one of the organizers of the 75th Smokejumper Reunion, go to:

http://mtpr.org/post/smokejumpers-descend-missoula-celebrate-their-75th-anniversary

Smokejumpers before a jump in 1968. Jim Phillips is first from the left.

75th Smokejumper Reunion - Proficiency Jump

On Saturday, July 18th at 1030, the Region 1 Smokejumpers will conduct a proficiency jump to maintain operational currency for parachute manipulation.

Please join us in observance of this time honored tradition.

Limited parking is available close to the jump spot. Other parking is available a short walk away.

75th Smokejumper Reunion - Jump Records

To view Forest Service Region 1 jump records from 1940 to 2005, please go to:

http://goo.gl/5ZzqLA

75th Smokejumper Reunion - Information

To all friends, family, and smokejumpers past and present,

Please join the National Smokejumper Association and jumpers young and "oldish" to celebrate 75 years of smokejumping on the University of Montana Campus and locations around Missoula on

Friday, July 17th to Sunday, July 19th.

For a complete schedule of events go to:

https://smj2015reunion.wordpress.com/schedule-of-events/

We look forward to seeing you there!

Ram Air Transition Letter Signed

On July 1st, Forest Service Director of Fire and Aviation, Tom Harbour signed the long awaited Ram Air Decision Memorandum.

"The U.S. Forest Service will begin a measured transition to a ram-air parachute delivery system at smokejumper bases, to replace round FS-14 parachutes currently in use. A change management and implementation plan will be developed to start transition at the beginning of Fiscal Year 2016. There will be continual assessment and management the associated risks of this transition."


























For more information on the decision and upcoming transition visit:

http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/people/smokejumpers/index.html

Follow links under In The Spotlight on the right hand column.

New AC Units in the Loft!

The mounts have been returned to the Loft walls and the new Air Conditioning units are installed!

R1 FS Web

The Region 1 FSWeb has migrated to a sharepoint site. You can get to it from the R1 FSWeb link to the right, if you are on a government network.

If you want to go to the old site, you should still be able to hit it at http://fsweb.r1.fs.fed.us/index-legacy.php


Thank you and good day sir(s).

Temp 7 to Kroeker

Join us in congratulating Jeremy Kroeker for being selected to receive a temporary upgrade to GS 7.  There were many great candidates and it was a tough decision. Unfortunately there was only 1 current GS 7 vacancy on the org chart.

UTV Training

There can be a UTV class in June if people are interested.

Any jumpers who want a UTV license go to www.ROHVA.org, complete the free ROV e-course (~2hrs) and bring the certificate to Boyd. The practical skill class will follow.

We would like to get 2 jumpers into the UTV instructor course next spring at the NRU, if you’d like to be one of them be sure to have a UTV license by then.

GS 7 Temp Promotion Outreach

Anyone interested in a temporary GS 7 promotion for this coming season e-mail your one page resume to Tory Kendrick at tkendrick@fs.fed.us by May 8th.

New Bandages

We are going to be putting a new type of pressure bandage into the medical kits - The Emergency Bandage (also called the Israeli Bandage). It had a pressure bar and elastic wrap, which works great but takes a little practice to get familiar with.

There are two of them next to ops, check them out when you have a minute.

Mixed Load Jump Refresher Week

We will be starting at 0730 on April 6th for Mixed Load Jump Refresher Week!

Emergency Contact Information

If you haven't given Ops a copy of your 2015 emergency contact information, please fill out the sheet that's in your mailbox drop it off.


Thanks

Drug Test Information

We are now eligible to be tested.


Click on Mr. Potty Pal to download the information.

MTDC Parachute Survey

Remember back when we all took that online survey about parachute transition?


Here are the results. (Click to download)


MTDC Survey


Union Evaluation

Early Fire Refresher

 Early fire refresher will begin on March 23rd. Start time is 0800 for the entire week.
If you are not sure if you need to be there, call training to double check.

The freezer is stocked

Get some now and support the ice cream fund. Only $1

Overhead + Trainer Refresher Starts March 16th

Trainers meet in Pintler Room at 0700
Refreshers meet in Pintler Room at 0730
Round overhead meet in front of Ops at 0730
Bring a sack lunch
No scheduled PT test on March 16th

PT Test

Once you have your physicals complete--> PT Test!
PT tests will be administered Wednesdays and/or Fridays at 10 AM when at least 5 people are ready.
Contact Keith Woods or Mitch Kearns.

New Lockers!

We have fancy new lockers! 
Which mean new layout. 
Which means new locker locations. 
Which means come pick your new locker. 
There is a priority list for selection.
 Pick the locker and move in!  Call Ops if you have any questions!

Rigging reminder

Ram-air rigging supervisor training/refresher starts next week (March 2nd).

The following week the loft is going to try and get chutes ready for refresher. Round and square riggers can go check out the nice new floor and get some packing done.

2015 Needs to Know book

If you have any suggestions about what to include or delete from this years needs to know booklet, get them in now. Call ops or use the link:

Suggestion for next years needs-to-know

Refresher dates for Missoula Jumpers

Download the refresher schedule to see what days you are supposed to be at refresher. Contact Jake with corrections if needed.

 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD

 

e-Isuite Workshop

E-Isuite is rolling out this season, and promises to be as exciting as it sounds.

If you are going to be available for assignment with a qualification that used I-suite, you probably want to find a training session to learn how to use E-Isuite. Check for EISUITE on http://www.nationalfiretraining.net

  

Silver City Detail- 2015

Just want to give you all a heads up that the Silver City folks will be picked on February 17th. Some details are as followed:


*  Missoula will have at least 5 slots (4 smokejumpers, and 1spotter/ICT-3)

* Commitment is a 31 day minimum

* Start date should be May 15th (subject to change, lately we have been starting May 1st)

* Swapping out (after 31 days) during the detail is supported and encouraged by overhead.

* The sooner we draw the list the easier it will be to find long term lodging

Thanks for your time and consideration for this detail, hope to see you soon!
If you have any questions please contact Josh Clint (406)329-4704

Shane Ewing Memorial Scholarship

It is the committee’s pleasure to announce that the inaugural recipient of the Shane Ewing Memorial Scholarship is Michael Francis, who is currently obtaining his Instrument Rating while on his way to becoming a smokejumper pilot.

 Congratulations to Mike.

Sincerely,

Shane Ewing Memorial Scholarship Fund Committee

The List......... 2015 edition